THE HOLY SPIRIT

Today’s Reading: Luke 11

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion on the right-hand side).

Between the Mount of Olives and the Old City walls of Jerusalem is the Kidron Valley. The cone-shaped structure is the Tomb of Absalom and is the first of three major tombs as you go down the valley. Behind Absalom’s Tomb are thousands of Jewish graves that face towards the Eastern Gate, where they believe the Messiah will some day enter the city.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where Reynold took the photo, click HERE.

Key Verse: Luke 11:13

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

We won’t miss anything if we are following Him closely and watching Him carefully. Jesus and the disciples would’ve often passed by the upside down funnel shape of Absalom’s Tomb (also known as “Absalom’s Pillar” – 2 Samuel 18:18). Would they have talked about the fact that Absalom was filled with pride, so much so that he tried, by force, to take his father David’s throne? We don’t have a record of such a conversation. Jesus will speak of things to us if we’re close enough to hear Him. He’ll share lessons from everyday things we see. Jesus said, “When He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). It may be helpful for us to read now the first 15 verses of John 16 (click here) and then meditate on our key verse. It is obvious that if we ask for the Holy Spirit and we are willing to receive, and if our Heavenly Father is “more” willing to give of the Holy Spirit than we are to receive, and He is, then we are being filled now and always. We need to begin to praise God now. Worship Him for His generous Gift of the Holy Spirit Who fills us to overflowing (Acts 2:4, Ephesians 3:19, Ephesians 5:18).

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Heavenly Father, I am willing to receive of the Holy Spirit here and now. You have given the Holy Spirit to indwell me when I first believed in Jesus, and every day I need to be filled. I’m reminded of a funnel as I look at the picture of Absalom’s Tomb. I imagine turning the funnel over and You pouring into my life more of the Holy Spirit than I have room to hold inside me. Overflow my life, Lord, so that others around me will experience Your Spirit. In Jesus’ Name I pray, and keep on praying and receiving. Amen!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I wrote a book called 100 Huntley Street which was first published in 1979 by Logos International of New York City. In the early 1980’s it was published again by Thomas Nelson of Nashville, and then again in the late 1990’s under the title 100. Why tell you about this? My story of being filled for the first time with the Holy Spirit as a 16 year old is on pages 40 and 41 of the original publication. Perhaps if you know anyone who has watched or supported 100 Huntley Street over the years, ask them if they have a copy for you. I’m greatly blessed by the memories, but most of all by experiencing the Presence and fullness of the Holy Spirit right now.

Yours for being filled, and keeping filled, with the Holy Spirit,

David

P.S. Luke, the New Testament historian, is right on!!! Good history is a record of what actually happened according to those whose stories are told and those who were eye witnesses. I believe that Luke, a physician, spent at least two years interviewing the people whose stories are in his Gospel. He did this while his leader in ministry, the Apostle Paul, was in Roman custody in Caesarea, the capital city of the Roman province of Palestine. These P.S. thoughts are for the purpose of showing that the Bible is “RELIABLE!” Tomorrow…Did the enemies of Jesus living at the time ever write anything which contradicted the Gospel stories?